Nantucket Historical Association Staff and Officers

NANTUCKET HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION OFFICERS

President, Henry B. Coleman Vice-Presidents, Albert G. Brock, George W. Jones, Alcon Chadwick, Albert

F. Egan, Jr., Walter Beinecke, Jr., Mrs. Charles Clark Coffin. Honorary Vice-Presidents, Mrs William L. Mather, W. Ripley Nelson. Secretary, Richard C. Austin Treasurer, John N. Welch Councillors, Henry B. Coleman, Chairman, Mrs. Richard Swain, Bernard

Grossman, terms expire 1974; Robert Metters, George A. Snell, terms expire 1975; Mrs. H. Crowell Freeman, Francis W. Pease, terms expire 1976;

Benjamin Richmond, Miss Mary Gardner, terms expire 1977. Administrator, Leroy H. True Curator, Miss Dorothy Gardner Historian, Edouard A. Stackpole Honorary Curator, Mrs. William L. Mather Editor, "Historic Nantucket", Edouard A. Stackpole; Assistant Editor, Mrs.

Merle Turner Orleans.

STAFF

Oldest House: Chairman, Mrs. Kenneth S. Baird Receptionists: Mrs. Margaret Crowell, Miss Adeline Cravott Hadwen House-Satler Memorial: Chairman, Mrs. Phoebe P. Swain Receptionists: Mrs. Irving A. Soverino. Miss Marjorie Burgess. Miss Maud Jackson, Mrs. Lucile P. Bell 1800 House: Chairman. Mrs. H. Crowell Freeman Receptionist: Mrs. John Kittila, Sr. Old Gaol: Chairman, Albert G. Brock: Receptionist. Lawrence Ayers. Whaling Museum: Chairman, Hugh R. Chace Manager, William W. Walmsley Receptionists: Mr. Clarence H. Swift, Mrs. Harold Killen, Jesse Dunham, Mrs. Herbert Sandsbury, Abram Niles, James A. Watts, Miss Catherine Z. Deutsch, Janice DeGraw Peter Foulger Museum: Chairman and Director, Edouard A. Stackpole Receptionists: Mrs. Elizabeth B. Worth. Mrs. Clara Block. Mr. Joseph Sylvia Librarian: Mrs. Louise Hussey Nathaniel Macy House: Chairman, Mrs. John A. Baldwin Receptionists: Mrs. Sarah Morris, Miss Dorothy Hiller, Lisa Gasparello Archaeology Department: Chairman, Paul C. Morris, Jr. Field Supervisor, Miss Barbara Kranichfeld Old Town Office: Chairman, Hugh R. Chace Old Mill: Chairman, Richard F. Swain Miller, Ira Wolff Folger-Franklin Seat & Memorial Boulder: Chairman, Francis Sylvia. Friends Meeting House-Fair Street Museum: Chairman, Mrs. Harding U. Greene, Co-chairman, Mrs. Alfred M. P. Amey

HISTORIC NANTUCKET

Published quarterly and devoted to the preservation of Nantucket's antiquity, its famed heritage and its illustrious past as a whaling port. VOLUME 22 July, 1974 No. 1

CONTENTS

Nantucket Historical Association Staff and Officers

Editorial 2

5

Annual Report of the Administrator

Report of the Whaling Museum

The Financial Report 6

9

12

Currents of Migration on Nantucket By George Rogers Taylor 14

The Effect of Salinity Changes on a Filter Feeding Organism 22 By John Sease

Clevelands on the Island By Theodore C. Wyman 27

Legacies and Bequests 31

Historic Nantucket is published quarterly at Nantucket, Massachusetts, by the Nantucket Historical Association. It is sent to Association Members. Extra copies $.50 each. Membership dues are — Annual-Active $5.00; Sustaining $25.00; Life — one payment $100.00. Second-class postage paid at Nantucket, Massachusetts. Copyright, 1974, Nantucket Historical Association Communications pertaining to the Publication should be addressed to the Editor, Historic Nantucket, Nantucket Hstorical Association, Nantucket, Massachusetts 02554.

5

Fifty Years Ago — 1924

An Editorial

THE WORLD OF NANTUCKET in 1924 was so much in contrast to that of 1974 that only those who lived here during this period may realize the fundamental differences. First of all, it was a time of post-World War I depression. The great conflict which was to "make the world safe for democracy" was less than six years in the past, and the subsequent let down in the national economy was reflected in Nantucket's summer business although in a much milder form from 1920. The usual melancholy prophecies about the summer of 1924's business were making the rounds, to prove as groundless as similar prognostications in other years.

Two things characterized new phases in island life in 1924. Since the summer of 1918, when the automobile was first legally admitted (by the narrow margin of 40 votes), there had gradually evolved a new way of life here. Grocery stores and markets began delivery of orders by auto; livery stables introduced limousine service and the Steamboat Wharf featured the auto as well as the horse-and-carriage; the family touring car had already become a fixture, and teamsters were investing in trucks motorized.

For the first time in two and one-half centuries a revolution in the pattern of transportation on the land had been fully experienced. The old railroad train to 'Sconset had been replaced by buses to 'Sconset, as well as to Surf side and the Weweeder Inn. The auto had not only become a fixture in the once quiet streets of the Town but had invaded the out-lying roads leading to Wauwinet, Quidnet, Madaket and even Dionis.

Another new feature was created by the prohibition era. Varieties of local types of "liquid refreshment" had long since made their appearances, while imports from near-by "rum row" were distributed. Alarmed by the ease through which such imports reached the mainland, the U. S. Coast Guard inaugurated a series of bases along the coast, and Nantucket was selected as one such base. With the cement-hulled Wayanda as the headquarters vessel, a fleet of these "rum-chasers" were moored at Straight Wharf, to become an active part of the waterfront scene.

Fashion and social events played their roles on Nantucket as well as in America. The changes in feminine styles were radical, with bobbed hair, shortened skirts and rolled stockings introducing the flapper era. Sport clothes became prominent in both men and women, the modern tennis costume and the onepiece bathing suit for the ladies and the golf "knickers" for men.

There was also a change in the business life of the town — a slower but definite development — but that is another story reserved for another time.